Radioactive (A Falling Skies Romance)
by annax3noelle
Summary: In a world that is involuntarily hosting an intergalactic war, it's hard to think of anything except hate, revenge, and death. Millions of lives lost, millions of families torn apart, millions of hearts broken. But one girl who accidentally stumbles across the beaten up 2nd Mass. may have the strength to be the key to victory and to re-stitch one boy in particular's heart.
1. 1- Welcome To A New Age

_There's nothing like standing on a dock alone with nature, while the water below you softly hits against the wood, slowly wearing it away. The way everything around you seems to be speaking its own language- the leaves in the trees rustling against each other, the birds chatting in the sky, the water splashing against the shore. It's the feeling of finally feeling calm, as if the world is finally at peace. _

_Or at least that's the way it used to be._

_The way it was before _they_ came._

_Now, I stand at the edge of this dock staring at dark, murky water and an equally murky sky. The lake seemed lifeless inside and around it. There were no birds chirping or fish leaping about in the water, nor were there any signs of other animals. I felt as I were the only thing alive for miles, but then I was reminded of the harsh reality I was living in as a spaceship of the foreign invaders raced above us in the sky, the sound of it echoing loudly. My immediate reaction was to duck and hide so I did, forgetting where I was currently standing. I slipped on the edge of the dock and clumsily fell into the lake, holding on to the edge of it for dear life as I could feel the weight of my clothes and possessions weighing me down as if they were trying to drown me on purpose. Just in time, I felt the arms of two strong boys pull me out of the water with ease- another reminder that I wasn't alone out here. My face collided with one of their solid chests, and I could feel the water transferring from my clothes to his as I held onto him tightly in relief. _

_"How did you possibly get yourself into that mess, Anna?" I could feel Austin's chest vibrate as he laughed._

_"One of their ships flew above me and I don't know, I guess it just freaked me out a bit." I admitted, thinking about the daze I had been in before my little embarrassing moment._

_"We've been at war with the aliens for months now. You'd think you'd be used to that by now." Rylan joined in from behind Austin. I had barely even noticed him standing there._

_But Rylan was right. Our planet was indeed at war with aliens from beyond our world, and things weren't looking too good for the human race. _

The sound of gunfire rang out in a deserted field as Captain Weaver and his team of fighters fought one of the many small combats they were challenged with on a daily basis. The firing stopped rather quickly, for the few skitters that made an appearance had been surrounded and out-numbered by the growing army of the 2nd Mass. The only sounds now were the sounds of heavy breathing and the thud of the last skitter collapsing to the ground. Tom Mason stepped around each alien casualty, analyzing them individually.

"It's strange how we didn't have a run in with any Mechs as well…" Tom thought aloud as he paced around the lifeless intergalactic creatures.

"You're right. For as long as we've been fighting them, which feels like a damn long time, those fish-heads are usually accompanied by a Mech." Weaver reasoned, taking his position next to his second-in-command, looks of confusion spread across both of their faces.

"Maybe they made the mistake of straying a little too far from home." Ben said hungrily, his hatred for the skitters becoming apparent.

"Whatever the reason is, let's just say we got lucky that we didn't have to deal with them, too."

As they continued on with their conversation over the skitters and Mechs, they didn't notice the uninvited guest that was silently lurking from behind them. Its long arms dangled at its sides and its slender legs walked swiftly at a slow pace. It was a monster, a dictator, a murderer, though it usually never committed the murder itself. It leaves that job to its army, but this time things are different. With a high-tech spear in hand, it prepared to make its first move on Tom.

"TOM!" Maggie yelled, noticing the movement in the corner of her eye, aiming her handgun at the creature.

Her loud yell caused the rest of the fighters to do the same, but two gunshots went off before any of them could even pull the trigger. With one shot in the chest and the other perfectly in its head, the Overlord fell with a loud thump, its long limbs sprawled out by its sides. Tom stood breathless at the sight, so Weaver decided to take some action.

"Whoever took those shots better come out and show themselves right now!" He yelled into the open field.

On command, out of bushes opposite from each other came a girl and a boy holding their weapons in their hands above their heads. The boy looked no older than 18. He had a tall, slim body, shaggy brown hair that revealed failed attempts at trying to maintain it, and piercing blue eyes that seemed to glow brighter than a brand new glow stick. The girl on the other hand was a great deal shorter, probably about 5'4, and her body showed signs of being an athlete before the invasion. She had long, dark brown hair that reached just below the middle of her back, light brown eyes that also had a small shine to them, and dark eyebrows that framed them perfectly. She stood slightly behind her friend and her facial features displayed how nervous she most likely was at the moment, probably from run-ins with other surviving humans that were not so friendly. Plenty of stories like that have been shared by many throughout the 2nd Mass. Living through the end of the world really seems to bring out the worst in people.

"Who, may I ask, are you?" Weaver interrogated the lifesaving strangers.

"I'm Austin Clark, and this is Anna Lombardi. Who are you?" The boy, now known as Austin, spoke for both of them.

"We're fighters of the 2nd Massachusetts." The captain said proudly.

"You mean, there are more of you?" Anna finally spoke up, immediately interested as she stepped up from behind Austin's body and her eyes glinted with hope.

"Many. How about you?"

"No, it's just us. There was another boy with us, but we were ambushed by a survivor and he unfortunately didn't make it."

"Are you hurt?" Weaver squinted to try and get a good look at the pair, but was too far to see any significant wounds.

"I've got a few bumps and bruises here and there, but Anna has a nice gash up her right arm. Some skitters are determined, I'll give them that."

Weaver paused for a moment, considering his options- there were really only two he could take. It was either good news or bad news for the teenagers. He looked at Tom for assurance who nodded his head in approval, knowing what he was thinking.

"Well, come on then. Let's bring you two back to the 2nd Mass. and get you all fixed up."


	2. 2- I'm Breaking In

"You can head inside the med bus right there and patch yourself up. We'll have a talk with Captain Weaver later about the plans for you and Austin."

"Okay, sounds good. Thanks Tom!"

Tom gave Anna a small nod along with a smile as they parted ways- him returning to Captain Weaver to discuss their options and her to the med bus. Her pace quickened as she could feel the wound beneath her sleeve throbbing.

She walked up the steps and into the well-organized bus, surprised to see that it was empty. Considering how unsafe the world really is now, she expected to see more wounded fighters or civilians, or at least even one. But instead she found herself alone, looking through all of the cabinets and drawers, continuing to be surprised at the variety of supplies they had managed to collect. She finally found exactly what she needed- rubbing alcohol, cotton balls, a few large bandages, and one long arm wrap to cover the whole thing. She set the supplies on the counter next to one of the hospital beds and took a seat on the bed, beginning her work. She roughly wiped the cut with the alcohol. On a normal day, she would never be able to do this to herself and would most likely wimp out from the stinging pain that the alcohol inflicts, but now it's no big deal. Pain came second nature in her life now so it's nothing but a bother.

In the midst of covering up the now clean wound, she heard the footsteps of someone else entering the bus. She glanced up to see one of Tom Mason's sons, Ben. He acknowledged her with a small nod, which she returned, then turned his back on her while she looked back to the wound she was tending, but only for a second. Her gaze quickly returned back to him. More specifically, it returned to the dark spikes that were lodged in his spine. It looked like they ran down his whole back, and the skin around them were like nothing she's ever seen. They looked like they would be uncomfortable, but he wasn't showing any signs of them being any trouble.

"How much longer are you going to stare at them?" Ben caught Anna off-guard as she jumped in her place, her cheeks turning a deep shade of pink.

"Oh, um, I-I didn't realize, I…"

"Save it, it's fine. You've only seen me for a matter of minutes and probably already think I'm a freak." He finally turned around and faced her, and by now she had gained her composure.

"No, not at all. I actually find them quite interesting." Curiosity caused Anna to stand up and walk towards him. "Do you mind if I take a look?"

"Um, yeah sure. Go ahead." He said, turning around and lifting up the bottom of his shirt for her to get a good view. Now he was the one to be caught off-guard, not expecting her sudden interest in what he considered to be the worst thing that's ever happened to him.

"Do they hurt?" She asked, poking away at every inch, from the scaly skin around each one to the actual spikes themselves.

"Uh, no. I actually barely even realize they're there half the time. It's only when people start staring and whispering when I walk by them that I remember…" After that unpleasant confession, he pulled his shirt down and turned to face the brunette. He noticed the significant height difference between them, though he wasn't towering over her.

"Ignore them, they just don't understand. At the end of the day, you're the one protecting them, and if they aren't grateful for that, then that's their loss."

This actually made him smile. He had never thought of it that way. He had just always assumed that they were right to judge and that he was just some walking freak show.

"Well, thank you. I don't know how you managed to understand my situation like that so quickly and help me feel better about it, but thank you. It means a lot."

"My friends did always used to tell me that I gave the best advice. It's been a while since I've been around enough people to give some, though." Anna forced a smile at the thought.

"How long have you been on your own? You know, with Austin and anyone else?" Ben asked her as they both walked over to the couch at the back of the bus and sat down beside each other.

"Since the aliens first came. I was in school when the first wave started wiping out our town. You could hear the gunfire and screaming outside through the window, but nobody bothered to look except the teacher. We were all frozen in our seats in fear. The next thing we knew, the sounds of chaos could also be heard in the hallways and the door of our room flew open. A group of your so-called 'skitters' ran in and attacked most of the kids, but a few including myself and my friend Rylan escaped out the window. When we got outside, we met up with some other kids that had escaped as well. But a Mech saw us and opened fire on us as we all tried running away. Luckily, I've always been a fast runner so I was in the front of the pack and avoided being shot and narrowly got away. Austin and Rylan obviously had lived too, along with another boy and girl, Marie and Zac, but both of them were eventually taken by the skitters. Then Rylan got killed by a crazed survivor who he tried to make contact with, leaving me and Austin alone with each other. I honestly thought that was the end right there, that there was no way two teenagers who had never fought a day in their life before all of this could live."

"A few days later, we were on the move trying to find a new place that would be safe to spend the night at when we heard the gunfire from you guys. We followed where it was coming from and hid in the bushes while we watched you guys completely destroy that pack of skitters. We were hesitant about whether we were going to get up and join you guys because of our past run-ins with survivors, but when I saw the Overlord sneak up behind Tom, I couldn't just leave you guys hanging. We may have met some horrible people, but in the end we all are fighting the same enemy. So I instructed Austin to take the first shot to the chest to weaken it before I took the kill shot to the head."

"And it was a rather nice shot, may I add." Ben smirked. The idea of a good kill towards the aliens amused him. Anna thanked him and laughed before a silence loomed over them.

"So, you don't know where your parents are then?" He was nervous to ask this question in fear of how she'd respond to it. Luckily, she didn't freak out on him or have a meltdown; she just sighed.

"Nope. After we fled the school, I didn't bother returning back to my home. My family was smart, but they wouldn't have had the proper weapons to survive for very long. I just have to assume that my parents were killed and my sister was taken-"

"And harnessed by the aliens." Ben finished for her.

"Is that what you call it? Those things on kids' back that control them? A harness?"

"Yep."

"Does every kid that gets kidnapped by the aliens get harnessed?" She thought about all of her friends and even strangers from school that she witnessed getting taken away in the inescapable clutches of skitters.

"As far as we know, yes. If they wanted to kill a kid, they would just do it right there on the spot."

Another silence filled the air as Anna was hesitant to ask the question that immediately came into her mind, but she knew that it would be best to ask now since they're on the subject.

"That's why you have those spikes your back, right? You were harnessed at one point?"

"Yeah, but Hal and the others managed to rescue me and Dr. Glass was able to remove it safely from my back. But the technique only allows you to melt through it, which disconnects you from them but doesn't necessarily make them go away. Obviously, I wasn't as lucky as others so I'm permanently stuck with spikes that make me an official freak." Ben sighed this time.

"Ben, you're not a freak. It's not your fault you were captured. You can't be so hard on yourself." Anna placed her hand gently on his in attempts to show how sincere she was trying to be. Hearing her say that was a breath of fresh air for him, because he realized he really was being too hard on himself. He smiled at her and was just about to say thanks when footsteps interrupted their intimate moment.

"Hey Anna, Weaver wants to talk to us about the plans for us- oh sorry, I can give you guys a second…" Austin said, as he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.

Anna looked down at her hand, which was delicately placed on top of Ben's. Her cheeks flushed to a dark shade of red as she yanked her hand back and stood up, much to Ben's disappointment. His reaction actually surprised him a bit.

"No, it's fine. We were just getting to know each other." Anna collected herself and walked over to her friend.

"Ah, okay." He turned his attention towards Ben, who was still a bit flustered by the sudden interruption. "By the way, I'm Austin. I never got to properly introduce myself."

"Oh, uh, I'm Ben." He shook Austin's outstretched hand. "Anna told me nothing but good things about you. You sound like a great friend to have around throughout these kinds of situations."

"Actually, I'm her boyfriend." He corrected him. Anna was quick to jump in to the conversation at this.

"Well, not really. We haven't really made it official yet."

"Well, now it's official." Austin retorted, almost a bit forcefully, bringing about an awkward tension on the bus.

"So, um, you said that Weaver needed to talk to us?" Anna tried to cut through the silence and hoped to get out of this uncomfortable situation.

"Oh yeah, that's right. He's waiting for us, so we better get going."

"Of course. I'll talk to you later Ben?" Anna almost pleaded, hoping he wasn't too turned off after the whole stand-still that just occurred. Thankfully, he gave her a warm smile and a nod as he stuffed his hands in his jean pockets.

He watched as she exited the bus with her "boyfriend", giving one last wave back at him as she did. Leaning back against the counter, he rubbed his face with his palms. Well, that was a bit… awkward. What was up with that guy anyway, getting all up in their business like that.

And why did he feel a pang of jealously in his stomach at the idea of Anna having a boyfriend?


	3. 3- Waking Up To Ash & Dust

BOOM.

The monstrous sound of a car engine blowing up from the shot of a gun rang in everyone's ears as the fighters of the 2nd Mass. continued to do what they do best- kick some alien ass. They had already taken down a Mech with the Mech bullets that were loaded in each fighter's assault rifle, and all they had left were skitters. It seemed like a piece of cake. They were all dropping like flies while the humans were left untouched.

"This almost feels too easy!" Anna laughed as she shot alongside of Hal and Ben, who had quickly become her two best companions.

"It's like one of those shooting games that you used to play at Carnivals that would win you a big teddy bear for your lucky lady." Ben rolled his eyes at Hal's cocky comment.

"You were just quite the ladies man, weren't you?"

"Were? I still am, what are you talking about?" Hal retorted with ease, and Anna couldn't help but laugh at the immaturity between the brothers. She never bickered with her sister like this.

She regretted thinking about her sister right away, because along with the thought came that horrible gut-wrenching feeling. Even though she quickly felt right at home in the 2nd Mass., it was only human to grieve and miss her family dearly.

She shook her head and returned to reality, occasionally looking around the car that she was using as her barrier.

"Well, back to the game idea, the only difference from this and a mere Carnival game is that the prize is different. In this situation, the prize for taking the winning shot…" She stopped and turned briskly on her heels as she jumped to her feet, yanking her rifle in position in front of her and taking a shot, all of which she did in a matter of seconds.

"…is keeping your life."

As she said this, all the fighters observed the last standing skitter clumsily fall to the ground from the fatal shot. Pope swaggered over to the trio and gave Anna a good, hard pat on the back.

"Not bad kid, not bad at all."

The rest of the fighters made sounds of agreement as they began their walk back to their home base for the night. Ben ran up beside Anna, pulling her away from her conversation with Hal and Maggie.

"It's too bad your little boyfriend wasn't put on this mission tonight. He could've seen that wicked shot of yours." He joked.

"Come on Ben, he's not my boyfriend."

"We both know he doesn't think that's the case." He continued to smirk. Anna was well aware that Ben didn't exactly care for Austin, especially after the awkward first impression he left on him.

"Well I consider him to only be a very good friend of mine. Besides, I think he's just jealous."

"Well, is there anything that he _should _be jealous of?"

The conversation that started out as a joke instantly became uneasy and nervous. Anna hesitated before answering and bit down on her bottom lip, a classic a habit of hers. She opened her mouth to reply when a blinding white light suddenly engulfed the whole group of fighters, knocking each person out in an instant. Nobody saw it coming, nobody was expecting it. But the sender of the effective weapon was obvious.

* * *

An unusual silence loomed over the unconscious bodies. The silence was soon replaced by hoarse groans and the shifting of pebbles beneath their feet. One-by-one, each person got up and dusted themselves off.

"Now what the hell was that." Pope growled as he hastily yanked his rifle up from the ground, his bitter attitude rolling right off of his tongue.

"Obviously a new tactic by the aliens, and a damn good one. We better head back to base, we're moving to a new location tomorrow." Weaver commanded, and all the fighters began walking in agreement. They were willing to do whatever they had to do to avoid another attack like that.

"Wait, where's Anna?" Ben stopped dead in his tracks and looked all around him- Anna was nowhere to be found. "She was with me before the attack."

"I'm sure she woke up before us and headed back home, Ben. She wouldn't have just run off." Tom came up behind his son, placing his hand on his shoulder, but Ben quickly turned to face him.

"You know that's not what I'm afraid of, dad."

Ben's comment created a standstill between him and his father. Tom knew that he would never be able to forgive himself for his son's harnessing a long time ago. He didn't really know what to say to this because this _would _have been a great plan to kidnap one of the kids, and in this case it might've been Anna. And he was completely aware of how Ben would react if the aliens really did take her.

"Well, we're just going to have to head back to camp and see for ourselves if she's there." Tom sighed, before slinging an arm around Ben's shoulder.

The walk home was long and silent. Some of the fighters were really just generally exhausted, while all the others could think about was the attack and Anna.

Anna. That's all Ben especially could think about. What if she really was harnessed? She's a strong girl, probably one of the strongest he's ever met next to Maggie, but living in a life where none of your thoughts or actions are yours is like nothing a person should ever experience. It's torture, it's abuse, it's _inhumane. _But they're not human, so why would he expect anything different from them?

In the distance, he could see the light and smoke from a burning camp fire back at home, signaling that they were just minutes away from returning back from their mission.

Minutes away from finding out the truth of Anna's disappearance.


	4. 4- Deep In My Bones

When they returned back to camp, the first thing Ben could even think of doing was ask anyone who was outside, including Dr. Glass and Austin, if Anna had returned before they did. But every answer was the same.

She hadn't.

She never came back to camp.

_'She was kidnapped and harnessed, she had to have been. The aliens wouldn't have just missed out on an opportunity to take an important person from the 2__nd__ Mass. away,' _he thought to himself.

* * *

Ben followed closely behind his father as they stepped inside of the tent that was currently serving as Headquarters. It was anything but calm inside as all of the higher-ranked people bickered back and forth over solutions to the layering problems at hand.

"We need to get moving as soon as possible. If the aliens were able to send that attack then they most likely know where we are."

"I agree with Anthony, it's not safe here anymore." Di added in.

"You're both right. The sooner we're away from here the better, especially after that attack." Captain Weaver announced.

"But we can't just leave without Anna!" Ben hopped into the conversation from behind his father, surprising the Captain.

"Now look son, I know how close you've gotten to her and you don't want her going through the same unfortunate things you did but you need to understand the situation that we're in. Our location's been compromised and this whole thing that we've created is at an even higher risk than usual."

"Captain, I hate to say that I agree with spikey over there. But the girl has been a vital addition to our team. And plus, we don't want to have to deal with her _and _Karen, because I'm sure they're going to use her for the same thing. The situations are very similar" Pope joined sides with Ben, though he didn't want to. But what he was saying was completely factual.

"If I didn't know any better Pope, I would say you have a little soft spot in that rotted heart of yours for Anna."

That shut him up fast. Weaver took the silent treatment from the infamous leader of the Berserkers as an indication to continue to address the problem.

"Since it seems that there's a division between us over what to do, I'm going to leave the decision to you, Tom."

The whole room looked at Tom expectantly. He rubbed the stubble on his chin and looked at his feet, hoping to avoid the pleading stare his son was giving him. He didn't want anyone else to decide, he wanted this to be the best decision to keep everyone alive no matter who it made unhappy or happy. He sighed as he made his final decision and looked up at Ben apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Ben, but we need to do what's best for the whole of the 2nd Mass. You saw that attack, they could do it again and take _all _of the kids here, including you. I'm not letting that happen for the sake of one person, no matter how fond we all are of her. We'll have to wait until we're settled into our next location to go out and find her." Tom attempted to place his hand on his shoulder, but Ben quickly moved away, a look of disbelief plastered on his face.

"By the time we settle somewhere else, she'll already have a harness strapped onto her back!" Ben argued.

"Then we'll rescue her and safely remove it! We've done it to many kids, including you!"

"Yeah, and look how I've turned out!"

Silence fell upon everyone watching the painfully tense scene in the tent. Tom felt as if he punched right in the gut, and Ben was on the verge of frustrated tears, but neither of them tore their stares off of each other. They were at a complete stand-still. Tom knew his decision was best for the safety of the 2nd Mass., but he hated putting Ben through more than heaps of things he's already had to deal with.

As if on cue to interrupt the tense moment, Hal ran into the tent with alarming news.

"Captain Weaver, I think the aliens sent us a message."

· · · · · · · ·

Weaver and the rest of the fighters pushed through the civilians, who were all gathered around in a circle as if they were surrounding two people fighting. But nobody was chanting or cheering. Everyone just stood and observed, some in silence, others whispering to each other. But everybody felt the same things- fear and confusion.

Finally, the group made it through, and in front of them was something they thought they'd only see in Sci-Fi movies. It was a screen, but that's it. It had no structure or body to it, and it was floating, as if on a string. Weaver hesitantly began to make his way too it, but before he could even touch it, an image flashed onto the screen, causing him to back up again next to Tom. A video began to play that brought back horrible memories of rescuing Matt and Jeanie and her friends from the harnessing facility and Ben especially was reminded of those horrible moments from first-hand experience.

Because on the screen was a skitter in a harnessing facility with one person strapped to a table.

And that person was Anna.

The whole 2nd Mass. became very uncomfortable as they watched someone they've all grown very friendly with in her last moments of being a normal teenage girl like she should be. Her fate's been sealed and no matter how much they wish this wasn't the case, there wasn't a thing they could do. Nobody would be able to save her in time the way they did for Matt and Jeanie.

Karen came into view, followed by her master, the Overlord.

"You have one remaining chance to tell us what the 2nd Mass. is planning and their techniques as to how they've avoided defeat." The Overlord spoke to her through Karen.

"And why would I do that?" She spat back.

"In exchange for your life. A normal life back with the 2nd Mass. With your friends. With Austin Clark and Ben Mason. Where you've never felt more at home."

"Just talking about the 2nd Mass. reminds me that I'll never give them up! I'd rather die!" Anna growled back at Karen, who's face turned dropped in an instant.

"You're making a mistake, Anna Lepetri. You're going to wish you were dead."

And with those last threatening words, Karen left with the Overlord, leaving Anna alone with the skitter to receive her fate. The sound of a siren went off, signaling memories in Ben's mind. Images of his harnessing came back to him.

The way the harness swam down to your body.

The way it's slime felt as it slowly climbed up your back, stopping at your neck.

The feeling in your stomach, telling you that this is it.

He watched it all happen to Anna on the screen as if it were him all over again. But he saw how Anna never looked afraid, not once. Her courage was one of the many things Ben had admired since he met her- from the courage of talking about his spikes to him when they first met, to the way she would risk her life for anyone on every mission. She didn't deserve this. He could think of so many people who deserved this over her. Ben knew Karen was right. Being harnessed is so much worse than being dead.

Everyone held their breaths as they watched the front and back of the slug-like harness snap and connect into her. She transformed in front of them in an instant. She was no longer the brave, easy-going teenager. She was a slave now, an unwilling member of their army.

Tom bowed his head down in defeat, while Weaver shut his eyes tight, wishing he didn't have to see that. Pope even took his handgun and threw it back into camp in anger before stomping away. Slowly the crowd followed his lead and people tried to return to their everyday lives, but they couldn't get the images out of their heads. Even Tom and Weaver retreated back to Headquarters to discuss the plans.

All that remained was Ben who had his eyes glued to the screen, and Hal who had his eyes glued to Ben. Hal came up behind him and gently placed a hang on his slumped shoulder and sighed, for he was upset as well. But he had to try and be strong for his heartbroken brother.

"Ben, I'm sorry about Anna, I-"

But before Hal could even finish, Ben turned on his heels and ran into the forest, alone.


	5. 5- The Sun Hasn't Died

Tom looked at his son who was sat across from him on the med bus, showing no emotion whatsoever. This would be their fourth time on the road heading to a new location to set up a temporary camp since they left that first time. It's been a whole 3 months without Anna, and her absence, especially for the reason she was gone, left a huge mark on the whole of the 2nd Mass. Ben was devastated and for the first time, Tom had no idea what to say. He knew how big of an impact Anna had made on Ben. He remembered how Ben came back to the tent the first night Anna stayed with the 2nd Mass., talking excitedly about how "the new girl" was actually interested in his spikes and wasn't afraid of them or him. He said that somebody outside of the family finally understood him. From then on, Tom knew that Anna would be something special to his son, and something like this must be destroying him on the inside.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Finally Tom said the only thing he felt he could say.

"Why is it always me?" Ben quickly replied to Tom's surprise. He was expecting a continued silent treatment.

"Ben, it's not always you."

"Yes, Dad, it is! I'm the one that got harnessed! I'm the reason Jimmy was killed! I'm the one who put the whole 2nd Mass. in jeopardy when I let Karen get to my head! And now I had to watch Anna who you know means so much to me go through exactly what I did when I know exactly how horrible it is! I wish I could say that I could only imagine what she's going through right now but I know exactly what she's going through, and it kills me!"

Tom witnessed his son break down before him, knowing that it's not just the Anna situation causing this. Ben's been holding all of this inside, and Anna being taken was just the thing that pushed him over the edge. A 17-year-old boy shouldn't have to be living like this, but Tom had to remember that this is reality now. All he could do is give Ben the comfort that he needs, so he got up and sat next to him, placing a protective arm around his slumped shoulders.

"Ben, I know you may think all of this to be true, but none of it is. As much as we may forget it, you're still a kid, and there was no way for you to prevent any of those things from happening. And we'll find Anna, Ben. We'll bring her back home in no time and remove the harness, just like we did with you. You'll see her again, and she'll be as normal as normal gets."

Before Ben could reply, the bus came to sharp stop, breaking their father-son moment. They both immediately got to their feet and followed Anne off the bus.

When they got outside, all the fighters were standing around what looked like a huge mass of broken metal. But when they got closer, they saw that it was actually a crashed alien ship. It must've been sitting there for a while, for no one had heard or felt a crash.

"What should we do about it, Captain?" Tom asked.

"Leave it, it's just a pile of scrap metal now." Weaver said as he began to walk back before Anthony spoke up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, did anyone else see that?"

"See what?"

"In the metal, something moved." He pointed to an area of the broken ship before walking over to it and digging through the metal.

Tom and Hal came over to his aid and began pulling away some chunks of metal as well, and they were about to give up when a small hand popped out of the metal and grabbed his arm. He jumped in shock and all the fighters quickly aimed their guns at the hand. But Tom regained his courage and pulled the hand hard with both of his until the top of a head was visible. He could just barely see brown hair. Then suddenly the body pulled itself up, gasping for breath and clutching onto Tom's hand for dear life.

"Anna?" Ben yelled as he rushed forward to Tom's side as Hal helped him pull her from the rubble.

Her body was covered in blood and cuts and she had bones sticking out of different areas of her body. The harness was still strapped to her back, but it wasn't lit up yellow like it should've been. She was clutching onto both of Tom's arms now and refused to ever let go as they laid her down on the dirt, her body beginning to shake. Ben got to his knees beside her.

"Anna, it's me Ben. Can you hear me?"

Anna managed to make eye contact with him for just seconds, recognizing the familiar voice of her close friend, before her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she began to seize.

"DR. GLASS!" Tom yelled, but she was at his side with a syringe in an instant. She stabbed it into her forearm and immediately Anna began to calm down and fall into an unconscious state.

"We need to get that her into the med bus and get that harness off of her now." Dr. Glass said.

"Dr. Glass, we need to get moving to our next location. We can't be sitting here like ducks removing a bug from somebody's back." Weaver stopped her, along with Hal who was carrying the unconscious fighter with ease. Being harnessed definitely had a physical toll on Anna. Her shirt had a rip in the perfect spot to see her ribs clearly and all together, she just seemed so much thinner.

"We won't be sitting here, we'll be moving. I'll have Tom drive the bus while I remove it."

"Do you know how dangerous that is? The road is bumpy, you could burn her skin around it right off!" Weaver argued back.

"Yeah, but if we leave her harnessed until we find a place, who knows what'll happen. You just saw how she reacted to it, and the next time she has a reaction, a seizure may not be the only result." Weaver paused and considered this for a moment, before finally giving in.

"Alright fine, but no emotional breakdowns if this doesn't go as planned. We need you guys in top shape at all times."

At this, everyone started hustling around, returning to their different vehicles before he could even finish his sentence. Hal carried Anna up the med bus stairs with ease, closely followed by Ben, Tom, and Anne. Anne shut the door behind her and prepared to complete her difficult life-saving task as the journey to their next home started up again.


	6. 6- Checking Out On The Prison Bus

Weaver had been leaning against the med bus for what felt like hours. The whole camp had already settled in their new home, but no one had left the med bus yet. Which is why when Tom finally stepped off the bus, Weaver was urgent to get answers.

"How is she?"

"She's alive. Unconscious, but alive."

Weaver released the breath of air he didn't realized he had been holding in.

"And Ben?"

"He wishes she were awake, but he's just happy she's back and safe." Tom answered. Weaver raised his eyebrow and sighed again.

"Well, that was a close call."

"You can say that again. Besides being unconscious from having the harness removed, she has a broken ankle, dislocated shoulder, and a few cracked ribs. Thankfully, Anne was able to fix her up as much as she could, but she's going to be on strict bed rest for months with those kinds of injuries before she can start fighting again."

Weaver lifted his army cap off his head and wiped the sweat off of his brow.

"I'm nervous, Tom. I'm worried this is a whole set-up by the aliens, just like with Karen. I mean, what are the chances that we just find her all of a sudden like that?"

"I'm just as confused as you are Captain, but I have that gut feeling that this isn't a set-up, and I'm not just saying that for the sake of my son. It really just doesn't add up. The aliens would never purposely leave the harness on her. They would've removed it to fool us like with Karen. And plus, the harness wasn't lit up yellow, you saw it. If she was really still connected to the aliens, it would've been glowing." Tom had obviously put a lot of thought into this.

"I know, I know, we just have to be extremely careful. That whole Karen situation nearly gave up the entire 2nd Mass., and with Ben obviously head over heels for Anna, she could get him to do anything."

The idea was frightening. Karen easily worked her way through Ben's head by trying to empathize with him and pulled him into her grasp. Anna could do it in a second. She would have a control over him that Karen could only have dreamt of.

Suddenly, the med bus door swung open and Ben appeared panicked in the door frame.

"Dad, come quick! Anna's awake!" And with that, Ben retreated back into the bus with Tom and Weaver hot on his tail.

* * *

"Anna, you need to calm down!" Anne yelled as she struggled to restrain her with Hal's help. Weaver, Tom, and Ben approached the chaotic scene.

"What's happening here?!" Weaver yelled.

"I don't know! She woke up and seemed alright, but then all of a sudden she went into this huge fit! I don't understand, no other child has ever reacted like this!" Anne tried to remain as calm as possible, though they could tell she was a bit panicked as well.

"Anna, listen to me! You're safe now, no one's going to hurt you! But we need you to calm down!" Tom's fatherly tone came out in him as he held each of her arms in his hands and leaned slightly above her.

"W-where am I?!" She asked breathlessly. The fear in her voice was unmistakable, crushing Ben on the inside.

"You're home, Anna! You're back with the 2nd Mass.! You have nothing to worry about!"

Tears welled up in her eyes at Tom's words as she seemed to slowly calm down. She looked up at the light above her, before shutting her eyes tight. A tear squeezed itself between her eyelids and slid down the side of her face, leaving a small trail of water behind. She opened her eyes and made direct eye contact with Ben for only a second before returning her attention back to Tom.

"A-am I dead?" She practically whispered, her voice cracking. "Is this heaven?

"Dead? Why would you be dead?"

"Because the ship… I-I tried doing whatever I could before it was too late and it was the only thing I could do and I knew that taking the ship like that would mean that I would die but I just couldn't live like that anymore and I wanted to know that I died fighting back and-"

Anna spoke frantically, her heart rate as fast as her talking. Just as she was about to calm down, another panic attack erupted from inside of her. Ben decided to stop standing around watching her like this and knew he had to do something. He reached his hand out and placed it on hers, interlocking their fingers and giving him a firm hold on her. It reminded him of the day they met on this exact med bus when she placed her hand on his to comfort him when she was the only one who understood how he was feeling. Now, he was just returning the favor, but they're friendship had grown so much since then that it felt more like a duty than a repayment.

As soon as his hand touched hers, she held onto it tightly, in fear that he would go somewhere and leave. But Ben knew he wouldn't until she felt safe and comfortable.

"Anna, please talk to us. We just wanna know what happened." He said softly. She took some time to collect herself and took a deep breath, closing her eyes to recollect the nightmarish memories of her time with the aliens.

"I wasn't just another harnessed human to the aliens. I wasn't one of the unimportant kids who collected human resources in little groups. I was above all of the other kids, just like Karen. I stood by an Overlord's side the whole time, taking all of his commands, but I was treated more as his loving pet than a slave like the others. Every once in a while, I found it all to be… disgusting."

"But that's when I realized something. I was able to feel something that I alone felt- disgust. The feeling bubbled up in my stomach when it shouldn't have been able to. You're not supposed to feel or think anything of your own, but I did. Somehow, I was able to push my real consciousness through the consciousness of the harness and be myself. At first, it only lasted a few seconds. I would take maybe one step of my choosing and then I would return to the control of the aliens. But as the days and weeks went by, the windows where I had my own control over myself grew longer and longer. I could process whole thoughts on my own and I was able to realize that the aliens were clueless of my breaks from their control. So I waited, continuing to be their slave even when I wasn't forced to be, until I found the right moment to do something. And when that moment finally came, the window where I was free had grown to over five minutes."

"But how is any of that even possible? How were you able to break free of their control like that?" Tom asked, wanting to get every detail he could and analyze the situation. He was going to process it as if he were back being a normal history professor and not a major figure in an intergalactic war.

"I-I'm not entirely sure. I think it's just because my hatred for the aliens is so strong that I couldn't let them get the best of me. Like a piece of me was just holding on to my consciousness enough to win it back every once in a while. I think that even though I couldn't fight back physically, my mind tried to do whatever it could."

Tom nodded at the information. It wouldn't be surprising if that's really what it was. Anna _does _just have this unmistakable determination that could rub off on anybody. The whole idea just seemed so unheard of, but what isn't unheard of anymore? He let her carry on as she waited for him.

"Anyway, I was being transported to a different region on one of the transport aircrafts with 3 different harnessed kids. I stayed in my cot until I felt that window of freedom, and from there I worked my way to the front of the ship as quickly as I could, in fear that I wouldn't have enough time to complete my plan. When I got to the cockpit, I saw that the whole craft was auto-piloted, so I did the quickest and only thing I knew how to do. I pressed every button, turned every knob, and pulled every lever, hoping that something would turn off the auto-pilot. Thankfully, the sirens in the ship began blaring and I could feel it slow down and begin to plummet to the ground. I was sure I was going to die. Even after I had woken up after the crash I thought I was going to die because I was trapped under so much rubble and was in so much pain that I knew was being caused from serious injuries. But then somehow, I still don't understand how, but somehow, you guys found me. I owe you all my life."

Anna looked at everyone in the room appreciatively, her eyes shining as tears threatened to fall. This was the Anna they knew. It wasn't some controlled alien soldier, they were certain of it. She wasn't missing that glint in her eye or that famous warm smile. Every person in the room felt nothing but trusting of her and knew where her loyalty was currently lying. It was back where it should've been all along, where it would've been if things hadn't taken the unfortunate twist that they did. With the 2nd Mass.

"Well Anna, I think everyone in this bus can agree that it's good to have you back. We've missed having you on our line." Captain Weaver stepped forward and gave her a look of respect.

"We've missed having you around in general, not just in combat." Ben corrected the captain, causing Anna to smile which he returned.

"Well, I think we can also agree that we should give Anna some time to rest." Anne said responsibly. Everyone in the bus unwillingly agreed and one-by-one said their good-byes and paid their respects.

Anna had seemed to have gone through everyone- Weaver, Pope, Maggie, Hal, Anthony, Di, Lourdes- but she had not yet gotten to Tom and Ben. Ben came up to her first, giving her a delicate kiss on the forehead, moving a few pieces out of her face.

"Welcome home, Anna." He whispered, his blue eyes staring into her sea of brown and green.

"It's amazing to be home. It's nice to be back to my own thoughts, you know?"

"I wish I didn't know, but yeah." Ben looked away, let down. Anna immediately regretted bringing any sad memories upon him, so she reached for his hand.

"Hey, it's fine. You're fine. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" To her relief, Ben looked back up at her and gave her a small smile.

"Yeah, see you then."

And with that, Ben exited the bus, leaving Tom to pat her shoulder and say his quick words of appreciation so she could get some well-deserved sleep.

"Great work."


	7. 7- I Raise My Flags

"It's great to see you up and moving, Anna!" Di yelled across camp as he gave the beaming and much healthier looking girl a friendly wave and smile.

"Thanks Di!" She yelled back and returned a wave.

Indeed, it was Anna's first day out of the safety of the med bus since she had been saved and deharnessed. She had been sitting in her bed for over two whole months feeling completely worthless as everyone else went out and fought. They even had to get someone to replace her as Ben's partner in the field and she didn't like the idea of that either.

His new partner's name is Jessie, and she's your typical farm girl. Long, curly brown hair that's always done up in some kind of braid, big brown eyes, scattered freckles all over her face, and a much too innocent personality. But she was cute. Anna hated to admit it, but it was the truth. She had a tall, skinny body, a perfect smile, and a great personality. What's not to like? In Anna's case, it was her voice. She had always disliked thick, southern accents, and that's exactly what Jessie has. And not only that, but its high pitched as well. It was Anna's worst nightmare, along with the fact that she was stealing her partner.

Whenever Ben would visit her in the med bus, Jessie would just happen to "stop by" as well. Because, you know, it's common to come to the same place at the same time as someone, especially when you barely ever visit that place alone. Anna didn't think she'd ever seen Jessie step foot in the med bus if Ben wasn't there, too.

Long story short, Anna wanted Jessie to leave and fast, or at least become somebody else's partner. But of course she couldn't say that to anyone, especially not Ben. So she just gave her best attitude whenever she was around (when Ben was around) and put up with it.

Ben didn't visit Anna today, though. He usually visited everyday around noon, bringing some food and the latest news on the war. But today, it didn't happen.

"Hey, kid! Soon enough you're gonna be back on missions with us!" Hal brought her back to reality as he approached her with his always charming smile. They exchanged their usual handshake like brother and sister.

"Can't say no to that. The sooner things are back to the way they were, the better."

"The way they were? You mean kicking some scumbag alien ass?" Hal smirked and raised an eyebrow in amusement. Anna laughed, for this was the kind of talk she's missed while she sat practicing loading and unloading her handgun in her bed.

"Exactly! Hey sorry, but have you seen Ben at all?"

Hal thought for a moment, looking down at the ground, rubbing the short stubble on his chin before shaking his head.

"Nope. This morning he was out way before I was awake to meet up with the rebel skitters, and since then I haven't seen him. He's probably still with them or out on recon or something. When I see him though, I'll tell him you're looking for him!"

"Thanks, but don't worry about it, Hal. It's no emergency, I just wanted to say hi. I'll talk to you later!" She yelled as she backed away from him, flashing a smile and giving him a wave, which he returned. They then both continued walking in their original directions.

_'Ben knew Dr. Glass was allowing me to walk around today, so maybe he's waiting to see me out here up-and-moving.' _

Anna pondered over this thought but there wasn't a single sighting of him as she basically walked through the whole camp and was now looking at the thin strip of forest in front of her. He must be too busy with perfect little _Jessie._

Anna sighed and walked deeper into the forest, reaching a clearing in it that Ben had told her about a week or so ago. It was on the edge of a small lake that had a beautiful view, a view that probably would be much more fascinating if it weren't so damn cloudy. It reminded her of a lake that was near her home back in New York. Like this one, it was surrounded by a forest, and it was a normal hang-out spot for her and her friends. The memories she had there would never fade, and these memories made her very fond with lakes. It was on the top of her priority list to check this spot out as soon as she could walk.

She sat down on a decomposing fallen log and closed her eyes, cutting off one of her senses to strengthen the others. She could smell the fresh aroma of the clear air created by a recent rainstorm that passed through overnight. The piddle-paddle of the lake's waves against the rocks on the shore danced in her eardrums. Her fingers softly felt around the jagged patterns on the tree log, almost like little water-less rivers dug into the wood. And as for taste, well, there wasn't really much to taste.

Anna smiled to herself, soaking in the environment she had been missing out on for months, before a small yet unmistakable snap of a twig and rustling of leaves jolted her out of her meditation. She jumped up, which came with a lot of discomfort from the soreness of her healed injuries, and turned to see the sight of 1/2 of her missing friends.

"Austin!" Anna yelled with much excitement.

She had been thinking about Ben so much that she didn't realize that she hadn't seen Austin since before she was harnessed. Running over to him with her arms wide open, she expected a big, desperate bear hug in hopes to redeem all the time that they've unwillingly lost, but instead, she came face-to-face with his handgun. She didn't dare to move after that, but she looked at Austin with a mix of confusion and utter fear plastered on her face. Flashbacks of Rylan's unexpected death replayed in her mind as if there was a movie reel in her head.

_"You're one of them! I've seen the kids with them, you're no different!" The estranged man held his gun to Rylan's forehead, right in between his eyes. _

_"Please, sir, we swear we're not! You can even look at our backs, there's nothing on them to control us!"_

_Rylan turns at Anna's teary-eyed statement, facing his back to the man. But the man shoots a bullet right into his spine. And then he does it again. And again. And again. And again, until he doesn't have a single bullet left to shoot. By then, Rylan was already dead, his lifeless body drowning in a sea of red after it had clumsily collapsed to the floor._

Her eyes now filled to the brim with tears, Anna begins to feel her legs shaking beneath her and her heart beating uncontrollably hard in her chest.

"Austin, p-please, I don't know why you're doing this, but p-please don't. We're best friends-"

"You're not that Anna anymore. We're not best friends. My best friend was human, you're just another alien now." Austin sputtered out quickly, his face pale and his hand holding the deadly weapon shaking.

"What? Austin, no, that's not true! I'm not harnessed anymore, I'm not an alien!"

"Just because you're not harnessed anymore doesn't mean you're still not one of them. I heard the stories about Karen from before we came. Her harness was removed but she still fought for them! She was still a part of them!"

"I'm not Karen, though! I'm Anna, the Anna I was before I was taken! This is the real me! Austin please..." Anna pleaded, the tears spilling out and sliding down her cheeks.

"Save it! You're probably just trying to fool me so you can put me right into your trap! Well guess what, I'm not falling for it!"

Anna heard the click of the hammer as he pulled it back and shut her eyes tight, squeezing yet more tears out of her sockets. This was it. She was going to die the same way Rylan did- because of a delusional human traumatized by the actions of the aliens. She said goodbye to everyone in her head- Tom, Matt, Hal, Weaver, Pope, Antony, Di, Maggie, Lourdes, Anne, and Ben. Ben, who'd she miss most of all and whom she never got to tell everything that she had wanted to.

"I'm doing this for Anna. My Anna."

Oh, the irony in that statement as Anna waited to feel the impact of a metal bullet. She prayed that he would shoot right at her heart or her brain so that there wouldn't be any suffering. A quick, painless death is all she asked for.

She jumped a bit at the sound of the expected gunshot, but was left stunned as she didn't feel a single thing, nor was she falling to the ground to die.

Opening her eyes, she no longer saw Austin standing in front of her, holding the fate of her life in his right hand. Instead, he was face down in the grass where he was previously, completely motionless. She couldn't even move. The only movements she was making were from the heavy breathing of her chest and shaking body, but neither of those were her choice. She then noticed something out of the corner of her eye as she stared down at her dead old friend turned enemy.

She lifted her head to the side to see Ben on the edge of the clearing of the bushes, his gun still aimed at where he had just shot. He looked just as frightened as she was and made direct eye contact with her. In his eyes, she saw relief taking over the fear, which was a mirror image of how she was feeling.

As if a switch had suddenly turned on inside of her allowing her to move, she ran over to him, her tears running off of her face from the wind, and collided right with his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist tightly. He stepped back a bit from the force of her hug and kept his arms hovering to the sides, still stunned over what had just happened. But it didn't take long for him to drop his gun at his side and tightly wrap his arms around her, consuming her body into his. He bent his head down so his cheek pressed against her temple.

"It's okay, Anna. He's gone, it's over. No one's going to hurt you. Not while I'm here." Ben whispered into her ear, then moved to press a delicate kiss on the top of her head.

He never felt like he was holding her tight enough as she cried into his chest, the wetness from her tears seeping through his shirt. But Ben didn't care, for he felt like he was going to cry as well over the fact that he had almost just lost the girl who meant the world to him before he could even tell her.


	8. 8- I Feel It In My Bones

"How do they look?" Anna asked as Dr. Glass poked and prodded at the spikes on her back.

"I'm relieved to say that they seem to be getting smaller."

Anna released the huge breath of air that she had been holding in and smiled.

"And how about the rest of me?"

"Everything seems to be healing perfectly fine. Your progress in physical therapy every morning has been more than outstanding and you seem to be doing everything with no trouble, so whenever you're ready, I think you can have your long-awaited return to the battle field."

Anna cheered to herself as she felt an arm wrap around her shoulder and Anne lean over her, placing herself next to Anna's head.

"Just don't go too crazy, though I'm not sure what your definition of crazy is when it comes to fighting aliens." They both laughed before Anne gave her a small squeeze on each shoulder and exited the bus.

Anna slid off the bed and onto her feet to retrieve her shirt. She picked it up off the counter, sticking her head through the neck and shoving her arms through the sleeves. Simple enough. It wasn't until she pulled on the hem of the shirt when she had a bit of trouble as it got caught on one of her spikes. No matter how hard she pulled, it wouldn't budge. Letting out a frustrated groan, she reached to the back of her neck to try and fix the problem that was making her blood boil, but instead she felt a hand swat hers away.

"Having a bit of trouble there?" Anna heard the amusement in Ben's voice from behind her as he unhooked the clothing from her rugged spikes.

"Just a bit." She blushed and laughed awkwardly, not just because he had walked in on the little fight she had just had with herself, but also because nothing was covering her upper body except for a worn out sports bra. He handled it maturely, though- not like how a 17-year-old boy would react on a normal day. He pulled down on the hem of her shirt so that it loosely hung around her hips the way it was supposed to.

"You get used to it, I promise."

"Well, I don't know if I'm going to have to. Anne says that they're starting to go away finally."

"You're no longer going to be a weird razor back like me!" He joked, causing Anna to give him a playful punch on the shoulder. He help up his hands in surrender. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. That's great news! Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Ben." She smiled up at him.

"So how are you holding up otherwise? I mean, with the whole Austin thing." Ben questioned her as he walked over to the nearest stretcher and sat on it, encouraging Anna to follow, which she did.

"I can't even fathom it. It all feels like a memory from a horrible nightmare, and then I remember that it actually happened."

"I can only imagine. I guess he had just completely snapped. It's happened to a couple of people in the 2nd Mass. in the past, though it was really early in the war when our whole situation felt vulnerable all the time."

"Yeah, I guess. It's just a shame, he was a good guy. But I guess change is like a domino effect. One change leads to another change and so on…" Anna sighed, her posture slumping a bit as she stared at the floor in front of them.

"So how'd you know where to find me? When you saved me, I mean. How did you know I was there?"

"Well, uh, I kinda followed you." Ben's cheeks flushed a bit. "I was coming back from target practice when I saw you disappear into the forest. I went after you to make sure you were okay, and thank God I did that because you obviously weren't."

That really hit Anna hard in the gut. She could feel her stomach drop down 10 floors inside of her like a crashing elevator . If Ben didn't bother to keep an eye on her, she would be dead. Tom, Weaver, and probably Ben himself would've followed the sound of the gunshot to see my limp body soaking in a puddle of my own blood. A chill crept through my whole body, from the top of my head to the end of each toe. Talk about a life or death decision.

Ben continued, "And plus, I wasn't going to leave my partner adventuring off by herself."

"What happened to sweet little Jessie? I thought _she _was your partner now." Anna mocked, but Ben shook his head.

"Nope, she left last night. She knew that you were getting better and were most likely going to return to fighting soon, so she only found it fitting that she return your original partner to you. She said that she had served her purpose to the 2nd Mass. and wanted to try and ride out the rest of the war in the comfort of her own home. So we gave her one of our beaten down bikes that would last the journey and off she went. But Anna, do I sense a bit of jealousy in your voice?" Ben smirked.

"You mean the same jealousy you had over Austin?" Anna shot back at him with the same teasing tone. Ben squinted his eyes at her, but the smirk was still just barely there.

"Touché." He said before completely changing the subject. A subject that Anna didn't expect but she knew she should've. "So what was it like being able to act for yourself while you were harnessed?"

"Liberating, to say the least. You know what it's like on those ships. You're forced to do all these things that you don't want to do, but nothing can be done about it. All you can do is process everything, but that doesn't do shit to help you out."

"It was horrible." Ben said, thinking back to the months he wished he never had to experience.

"Horrible is another understatement. You see, we just can't seem to find the right words to describe what they do to us. It's that extreme. And deep inside of me, I could feel these intense emotions building up, so deep that I didn't feel them yet. Instead, I had all of these thoughts in my mind that went along with an emotion because the harness didn't allow me to feel the emotions themselves. Memories of attacks against us. Memories of all those people we've lost- my parents, my sister, my friends, people I fought alongside with. I even thought about you. About all the kids here who had been harnessed and how miserable it can make you guys feel. It really hit me that all of this, this pain, was caused by this species who lived off of the destruction of other planets. And I guess all of that emotion in me, a burning hatred for the aliens and a strong, infinite love for the people I knew, was a factor that the aliens missed. It was much more powerful than any harness could ever be on me, and so I won, bringing about the first window of freedom. After that, the windows came by themselves, growing longer and longer each time. I wonder if this was happening because I was slowly just destroying the harness. That would be a great thought, wouldn't it?" Anna lets out a small chuckle, and Ben looks at her.

"Were you scared? Before you crashed the ship, were you scared?"

Anna, after looking at the floor in front of her this whole time, finally looked Ben straight in the eyes, switching between each one every once in a while.

"We live in a life where we fear most of the choices we have to make and just life in general. Hell, you saw me when you found us. I was frightened, and I still was scared in the beginning when I was in the comfort of the 2nd Mass. The first time I got that window, I was terrified. I was in an unfamiliar torture chamber all alone, surrounded by my enemies. But then I remembered something my uncle had told me. He was a military general, but an explosion caused him to lose both of his legs, binding him to a wheelchair. Being a young kid, I asked him if he was scared before the bomb went off. He told me something that at the time I didn't understand, and still probably wouldn't understand if the world wasn't the way it is now. He said that fear is a choice, and that even though the world is dangerous, fear doesn't have to coexist with danger if you don't want it to. So I stopped letting fear control me and I did what I had to. Crashing that ship was my only way out of causing more destruction to you guys, and if dying was what it took, I was more than willing to make the sacrifice."

Ben saw that glint in her eye. The one he would always see in her best moments. The one he admired so much. It was strength, and not just some of it. It was every bit of strength a single person could possess within him or herself. Not many people were strong like that, though nearly all wish they were. But no matter how strong she was, everyone has their insecurities that makes them human, and that glint went away for the time being. It most definitely wasn't going to be the last sign of it.

"I was supposed to be like Karen. Like I said, I wasn't just another harnessed kid to them. They knew how valuable I was to the 2nd Mass and I was going to be permanently turned into some human-alien hybrid, just like her." Anna shuddered at the thought.

"Well, you would've fought through it, just like you did with the harness."

She only sighed at this. "I wish, but I think I would've been hopeless. I'm only human."

"I disagree. Yes, you're only human, but you're not just another human. You're much more special than that. You're the strongest girl I've ever seen in my life, even more than Maggie. Maggie may have lived through her battle with cancer, but in the end it was only because of a miracle from God. You _made _your own miracle, you saved yourself! No one could do the things you do." Before Ben could even think about stopping himself, he slowly leaned in closer to Anna's face. They were just inches apart. "You're not just special, you're amazing."

Anna now had tears welling in her eyes from all of the emotion. Their faces were now so close that they could feel each other's breaths coming from their mouths, though Ben was sure he had been holding his in. Any small movement from either of them would close the small gap between their lips.

But they were both startled and jumped away from each other instantly as Tom marched on the bus casually. Well, casually until he realized he had walked in on an intimate moment between his son and his friend. He backed away bit, turning his head for a second and scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Wow, okay, I already had to deal with this with Hal and Karen a while ago. What is it, an end of the world thing or something?"

When Tom realized his attempt to ease the awkwardness had failed, he grabbed the box of band-aids he had originally come in to retrieve, and began walking towards the door at the front of the bus. But not without turning and giving the two of them a small look. A look that read, 'I shouldn't be so happy that I walked in on something like that'.

Anna and Ben turned to look at each before bursting out into a fit of laughter and following Tom's lead off the bus and into what had become a beautiful day.


	9. 9- Enough To Make My Systems Blow

The gunfire and explosions were louder and more frequent in this battle than in any other. This is because there were more fighters of the 2nd Mass. on this mission than on any other, as well as more aliens. Everyone's ears will be ringing for ages, that is if they even survive this. The chances seem slim as the Mechs just keep on coming. No skitters, no alien airstrikes. Just Mechs, and lots of them. Pope's Mech bullets were really taking them all out, but the number of bullets was starting to dwindle and fast while the number of aliens surely were not.

"Come on, Di." Tom growled as he continuously fired at an attacking Mech.

Di played the role of Messiah in this battle, the Savior. He was to come as quickly as he could with rocket launchers that have been taking out the Mechs in an instant. While he made his way over, which was taking longer than it should've, everyone else was forced to stall and take out as many as they could. But they weren't doing too well. Almost all of their ground forces had been wiped out. Only a lucky few remained, though Tom doubted they'd be lucky for much longer. Everyone else was shooting from a sky-bridge that connected two tall university buildings. They weren't sure what university it was, for it wasn't really the time to go on a nice visit to check out the place.

For some reason, the Mech hadn't been able to spot them up there. They had no idea why, but they weren't complaining. One shot in the right place would send the whole bridge, along with everyone on it, falling down hard to their deaths on the pavement below. As of right now, that would include Tom, Weaver, Maggie, Hal, Anna, and Ben. Pope and the rest of the Berserkers were inside the university buildings on each side on the same floor, shooting out of its windows. Most of the other usual fighters were in there as well, but some, along with new volunteers, were the ones being pounded on the ground. If they don't make it through this, and those chances are high, Tom's planning on having a well-deserved memorial for them.

Though not many peoples' thoughts were very positive right now. They had put up a good fight so far, but they really needed Di to come in now. Unfortunately, he was nowhere in sight. They could probably last only a few more minutes before the Mechs wipe them out. Then what are the civilians supposed to do? What happens when they get attacked and no one's there to protect them. They'd all be goners, and everything they worked for this whole time would've been for nothing.

Anna shot at the Mechs in total desperation. She had a horrible feeling that this was it. There was no way they could win this if Di didn't show up in the next few minutes with those rocket launchers. But she couldn't just die here. Not after all of the fighting she's done. She fought her way out of her town, being forced to make the tough decision of leaving her family behind. She fought with Austin and Rylan in hopes of finding help, three teenagers who had zero survival skills in the very beginning. She killed an Overlord. She immediately joined the army of the 2nd Mass., taking out the aliens one skitter at a time alongside with the close friends she was able to make. She fought the power of a harness and took a ship down when she was supposed to have no control of herself. She lived through the crash and didn't give up on herself while she was stuck under the rubble. She hung in there while she was basically disabled inside of the med bus. And then she returned as quickly as she could to fight again. Fighting and surviving was her life now, but there was only so much one small person could do against a huge fleet of Mechs.

She looked over at Ben, who was shooting just as desperately as she had been, and maybe even more. The same thoughts were probably running through his head, for his life hasn't been so easy either and yet look at him now. A strong, amazing boy that Anna couldn't feel luckier to have met. He noticed her gaze and met it. His body language tried to fool her into thinking that he was confident and not worried at all, but his eyes told her the complete opposite. They looked alarmed and scared.

In the not-so-far distance, they could hear a harmony of footsteps and hums coming from what sounded like dozens of Mechs. Had the aliens finally figured out a way to destroy them?

"We fight until there either isn't an alien body or a human body standing." Weaver commanded. An uneasy feeling erupted in Anna's stomach.

Then the uneasy feeling was replaced with hope as a Mech suddenly exploded right in front of their eyes. And then another. And then another. It almost didn't seem real. When the huge pack of Mechs, probably about 12 or 13 of them, stepped into the picture, so did Di lugging multiple rocket launchers with him. He handed every person one before the Mechs could open fire, and the 2nd Mass. were able to make their first offensive attack of the whole night. Each Mech went down after 3 well-aimed shots at most. It was like nothing they had ever seen as the vicious robots suddenly became nothing more than blown up heaps of metal. Some Mechs did fire at them, causing some but little damage. Definitely not the amount of damage there would've been without the rocket launchers. It wouldn't have just been damage then; it would've been death.

In no time, there was only one Mech left standing. It almost felt too easy and time seemed to stand still as soon as the last rocket left Weaver's launcher as it zoomed through the air and straight at the Mech. With a few stumbles and it's last hum, it crashed to the ground with a loud, ground-shaking thud. Everyone seemed almost too stunned to do anything at this point, but the astonishment didn't last long, for it was soon replaced with a feeling of pride and accomplishment. Cheers erupted from different areas and people began celebrating and jumping around.

Anna felt herself hugging everyone in sight. She laughed with Maggie as they squeezed each other around the shoulders, rocking back and forth on each foot. Hal swooped her out of Maggie's arms and lifted her off of her feet, spinning her around like a child.

"We did it, kid!" She could barely hear him say over her laughter.

Hal set her down and then moved on to Maggie, planting a nice, strong kiss on her lips before she could say or do anything. Anna turned to Weaver, giving him her best salute and getting one in return, before hugging it out. Tom was in the middle of a fatherly embrace with Ben when Anna turned her attention towards him. He looked at her and outstretched his hand, which she took.

"Things might've turned out differently without you. One person can certainly make a difference. It's great to have you back."

He pulled her in and gave her his best bear hug, something Anna hadn't been able to feel since before the invasion. Not having a dad or a mom throughout all of this has been tough on her, but Tom had been the father figure she needed since day one. He did everything he could to make her feel like she wasn't an orphan. Like she had a family. There was no repayment equal to that, but she would try her hardest to find something good enough. He let her go, disappointing Anna, for she had missed that feeling of having a dad, and went off to celebrate with everyone else.

Now Ben came over to her, not as enthusiastic as he was before. This made her feel very uneasy. Had she done something wrong? That question was pushed far out of her mind when he quickly moved to hold her face in his hands and pull it to his. Their lips collided, and that was it. The moment they had both been dying to have for months, the feeling that they'd only had the ability to imagine. He moved his hands down to her waist, pulling her as close to him as she could get. She wrapped her arms around his neck, running her hands through the soft hairs at the ends. The feeling in both of them was real, but whether it was love or not didn't matter to them at this very moment. The fact that there was a feeling at all was enough for them. They pulled away as soon as the kiss turned into a smile. Their faces were still dangerously close, but he couldn't keep his eyes off of hers. A wide smile was plastered on each of their faces and a red tint flushed in their cheeks. She was his. He was hers. It felt so right.

A small distance away, Hal and Maggie were watching, their bodies glued on each other as well.

"They look so happy." Maggie admired them.

"Who would've ever thought that my computer-nerd, know-it-all little brother would get the girl of his dreams. She's perfect for him, and with everything he's been through, he deserves nothing less." Hal admitted, proud and happy for his brother. "Besides, he's been so consumed by her for ages now."

"She has been, too, trust me. Maybe not as obviously as Ben, but you'd be surprised." Hal looked at Maggie with a smirk on his face, but still in disbelief.

"There's no way Anna's been talking to you about Ben while Ben's been talking to me about Anna."

Maggie shrugs, a smirk playing on her lips as well.

"I guess you could say that we both played cupid."

Hal laughed and shook his head as he kissed the smirk right off of her lips.

The site of the almost fatal battle filled with nothing but celebration. Every remaining fighter was cheering and embracing each other. This was it. This was the 2nd Mass'. proof that no fish-head was going to mess with their planet without a fight.

And not just any fight, either. It was going to be a hell of a fight.

A fight that the humans refused to lose.

* * *

**_I just realized how much this chapter sounds like the end BUT IT'S NOT! I still have about 3 more chapters in store for you guys :) Thank you to those who have been religiously reading this and for those who have been reviewing. Some of your appreciation for this story astonishes me xxxxxx_**


	10. 10- I'm Breathing In The Chemicals

Anna stepped off the all-too-familiar med bus after wrapping up a fresh injury on her thigh into the amazing atmosphere of the 2nd Mass. People had scavenged CDs playing on full blast in different cars and everyone thought it would be a good time to go through all of the beer that had been stocked up. There was dancing, hugging, laughing, smiling, partying, kissing, drinking- and it all made Anna so happy. Everyone's fears and worries were put aside tonight in celebration of the great triumph over the mass attack by the aliens.

Because Anna was a fighter who had survived the attack, she had nothing but people's attention. When she would walk past them, they would walk up to her and do things like shake her hand or salute her. She had never felt so important in her entire life, and although she wishes it was for different reasons, it was still a great feeling.

She saw all of her friends having a good time as she walked through camp. Over near a camp fire, Maggie was sitting on Hal's lap as he said most likely charming things in her ear, making her laugh. Anne and Lourdes were gossiping together at picnic tables. Probably the most interesting yet entertaining sight of the night was Weaver, Tom, Pope, and the Berserkers all having a banter over multiple bottles of beer. That gave her a nice chuckle. Everyone said hi to her of course, but she had promised a special boy that she would meet up with him when she got the chance.

She walked straight through the dense but slim woods to the familiarly haunting spot- the clearing in the woods with the beautiful view. Laying out on the grass in the middle of the clearing was the special boy she had been talking about. Hearing the cracking of sticks under her feet, he looked up and when he saw her, he gave her a wide smile in which she returned. He patted down on the space next to him for her to lay, and she obeyed his orders. He stared up at the sky above him as the stars danced around each other in the sea of black.

"It's all so much more breathtaking on a night like this." Ben said, referring to the sky, noticing her staring at it as well.

"It really is." Anna couldn't help but admire it as well, not remembering the last time she ever took the chance to look up at it. She's been too caught up in her own survival.

"I used to come out and do this with my dad all the time. There was a roof I could lay on outside my window at my house in Boston, so when the sky was clear at night, the two of us would lay out and stargaze. Little did we know what was lurking up there watching us in the midst of those stars."

"Yeah." She said lazily, not wanting to get into a glum conversation about the aliens. Continuing on the other half of the conversation would be her best bet, so she did. "I had a roof outside my window, too, but whenever I would try sitting on it at night, people would honk at me from the street and think that I'm trying to break into my house. So let's just say I didn't go out there very often." She laughed at her own story and he joined in with her.

"Sounds fun." He joked, causing her to laugh again in agreement. "Do you ever wish you could just go back to your house and see it one last time?"

She nods and sighs. "All of the time, though I'm afraid of what I'd see there."

He understood what she meant. If her parents and sister were killed in the house, then she would have to come across their decomposing bodies. He has the same fears about his own mother.

"Yeah, I get what you mean."

"But on the other hand, there's so much I just want to do. Sleep in my own bed, take a real shower, pack some of my clothes so I wouldn't have to wear the same things over and over again. Making a nice bowl of Craft Mac N' Cheese would be nice too, not gonna lie. I love the moms that make our food to death and I really appreciate everything they do, but if I have eat one of their meals again I may throw it all up."

Ben laughed in agreement as she did before.

Anna continued, "Over everything, I really just want to spend hours in this music room that I set-up with one of my best friends. That was my favorite spot in my whole house and I would lock myself down there for days."

"Music room?" At first, Ben couldn't ever imagine Anna having any musical talents. She seems so tough and strong and intense, not nearly vulnerable enough to feel passionate about music. But that's when he came to the realization that maybe she only became like that as a result of the aliens' invasion. He really has no idea what she was like on a normal day, for she could've been some shy little girl. She could've been changed by these events to a large extreme, just like he had been. He was once a loser computer geek who used to be too weird and intraverted for any kind of female companionship, and now he's this skilled fighter with a girl by his side. Not to mention how beautiful she is to him.

"Uh, yeah… I was a singer and a songwriter." She became very uncomfortable, which surprised Ben.

"Why is that so weird for you?"

"I don't know, it's always made me uncomfortable talking about it. Even when I talked to producers and people in the business, it made me nervous."

"Producers and people in the business? Jeez, Anna, you must've been really freaking good!"

Anna thought about it. Yeah, she was pretty good, though she never ever admitted it.

"I guess so…"

"Here you are, being humble as usual. You were definitely insane, but since I'm such a great guy, I won't push you any further on this." Anna laughed at him.

"Obviously I'm the only humble one in this relationship. You're beginning to sound more and more like Hal every day!" She continued to laugh and he gave her a fake stunned look.

"Don't insult me like that!" He joked, causing laughter to continue to erupt out of them. After a few minutes, the laughter had subsided.

Anna sighed and rested her head into the crook of his neck, causing Ben to rest his gently on top of hers. She couldn't see the smile dancing on his lips as he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her up closer against his side.

"Now that I'm your girlfriend, does that mean I'm involved in the infamous Mason family drama?" She teased. That was the first time either of them had said the words girlfriend or boyfriend out loud to each other. Ben didn't feel the need to formally ask her to be his, and Anna didn't feel like he had to anyway. They both knew on their own.

"Yes, of course. You're now involved in every little problem there is. Good luck." He laughed, causing her to join in. Then silence fell over the two of them once again. It wasn't an awkward silence though, it was a comfortable one. A feeling of contentment rushed through them.

"Hey, Ben?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you believe in fate?" Anna nearly gagged over her own words because of how corny they were. But she wasn't afraid of asking the question in fear that he would judge her. They may now be a couple, but they were always best friends. And best friends tell each other everything.

"It depends on the situation, I think." He replied after taking a moment to think about it.

"Well, if fate really does exist, do you think that even without the invasion, we somehow would've met each other and fallen in love?"

"Yeah, I think we would've. But Anna Noelle Lombardi, are you telling me that you love me?" He looked down at her with a smirk and raised an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes at him and playfully hit him on the shoulder. Ben rarely showed this side of himself to others, but Anna had the pleasure of dealing with it all the time. She didn't join in on his teasing though, because saying this and meaning it, which she did, was a serious matter to her.

"Yeah, Ben, I'm pretty sure I am." Ben wasn't expecting her to be so serious, but he was happy she was.

"Well, good. Because I love you, too."

The words made Anna feel something in every inch of her body that she had never felt before. She had never been loved like this before. She's loved once, but that boy never returned the feeling. But this, what she had with Ben, this was the real thing. In that moment, she forgot every other boy she's ever had in her life because the only one that mattered to her was laying right next to her.

He turned his head sideways to look at her, revealing his flushed cheeks, but hers were equally as red. Their reactions to their mutual feeling caused them both to laugh a bit before he leaned over and placed the softest and most delicate kiss on her lips. No make out session, no matter how heated, could ever compare to a kiss like that.

She returned her head into the crook of his neck and wrapped her arms around his torso, and he placed his around her shoulder. They just sat there in silence, not even coming across the realization that it took an apocalyptic intergalactic war for them to both find the person that they needed. To fall in love.


	11. 11- I Wipe My Brow And I Sweat My Rust

The feeling of somebody gently stroking her hair woke Anna up out of a light sleep. It was so light that she didn't even dream, which was very unusual for her. Her eyes fluttered open to see trees around her, and it took her a second to come to her senses and remember where she was when she dozed off. She was lying on her side and felt whatever her head was on shift a little, and that's when she realized her head was on Ben's body, and he was the one stroking her hair.

"Hey there, sleeping beauty." He teased. She groaned much more dramatically than she need to, but couldn't hold back her smile as she sat up from her lying position, much to Ben's dismay. He followed her movements.

"Hey, ass hole." She teased back and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Long enough for me to decide that we should probably head back to camp and get some real sleep."

He got to his feet, but to his surprise, she didn't follow.

"You coming?"

"Not right now. I kind of wanna just sit here for a bit, you know? We're probably not going to be here much longer, and I want to enjoy this place. I'll be there in a few minutes, I swear." She smiled at him.

"Alright, but don't you disappear on me again!" He joked, then gently kissed the top of her head and left her alone.

She knew what he meant by 'don't disappear on me again'. He was talking about when she was kidnapped a few months ago, but that wasn't exactly her voluntary choice.

Not too long after Ben had left her alone, she heard rustling in the bushes behind her, followed by the sound of cracking branch. At first, it gave her the chills because the sounds resembled those Austin made before he tried to murder her. She was in the same place that it happened too, so she became very uneasy, but tried to assure herself that it was only Ben coming back to beg her not to be alone out here.

But when she turned around, she didn't see Ben at all.

"Hello, Anna."

It was Karen.

Just like on that dreadful day with Austin, she froze in her spot as she faced the evil human-turned-alien. Mixed emotions rushed throughout her entire body.

One part of Anna felt blazing anger, an anger that wasn't easily obtained by any human let alone somebody who was as reasonable as Anna. The menacing bitch in front of her had done so many horrible things to these people that she loved, her family here at the 2nd Mass as a whole. Karen had directly tortured all of the Mason men and considering one of them was Anna's boyfriend only made things that much worse.

Another part of her felt fear. Fear of the power Karen possessed, and what she was planning to do with her and with what type of force she would use to achieve that plan. She had no idea how many alien reinforcements were lurking in the forest around them. And as good of a skitter fighter as Anna was, she was only one 16-year-old girl carrying just a simple handgun. She was truly scared and with this fear came regret. Regret that she couldn't just keep herself out of danger for once and didn't go with Ben when he asked her to.

But then there was a part of Anna that surprised her. A part that felt empathy for Karen for a very complicated yet simple reason. She was just like her. Before their kidnappings, they were skilled fighters of the 2nd Mass. with a Mason brother by their sides. They were both knocked out during combat and were the only ones taken for reasons still unknown to everyone. They quickly moved up in the alien ranks and weren't just normal harnessed children but important assets to the aliens, whether they liked it or not. The only difference was that Karen just couldn't find that strength to break free and because of all this, Anna empathized with her. No matter how hard she tried, she would never be able to deny that she feels for her. Karen and Anna's pasts are mirror images of each other.

"Where are your manners, Anna? As your fatherly figure, Tom wouldn't be very happy with your loss of respect at the moment."

"You're right, Tom wouldn't be happy. But your reasoning for his unhappiness is wrong. He would be disappointed in me for just standing here rather than shooting you right between the eyes where you deserve it."

The angry side of Anna took over at the mentioning of anyone in her resistance family. Karen merely chuckled calmly.

"You know, he wouldn't be the only one begging for my death. I can hear Karen in the back of my mind, _your _Karen, pleading for you to shoot me, even though she's aware that she would die, too. You resistance fighters are all the same. So quick to give up your lives for each other."

Empathy washed over her again at the mentioning of the real Karen. She was trapped in there, and Anna's heart ached for her from being completely aware of the pain she's in mentally. It's truly a horrible thing, much more than anyone could ever imagine, not that they should want to.

"We do it because we love each other, not that any of you fish head freaks know anything about love." Anna snapped at her, expressing more emotion than she had wanted and too much for Karen to miss. Of course, she hopped right on the boat to take advantage of the opportunity.

"You humans are so naïve. It's not because of love, it's because you're a fragile species. So vulnerable, so… _weak_. Your weapons and tactics may hit us with blows that are no doubt devastating but in the end, none of you are mentally strong enough to win this war. You may've been able to break through the connections of a harness, but it wasn't because you were strong like you all think. It was because you were afraid of where you were and desperate to get out. You were angry at us for doing such things to you and to the people you care about. Your emotions were doing all of the work because you are emotional. Emotional and weak run hand in hand."

"No, again you're wrong. I may be emotional, but I am not weak. Love brings about all of these emotions, and love is strong. I am strong." She assured herself just as much as she was assuring Karen.

"Are you, Anna? Are you really? Does a strong person get too nervous to kiss a boy she's obviously dreamed of kissing for months, maybe even from the second she got to know him? No, they don't. And want to know what else a strong person doesn't do? A strong person doesn't avoid the town their family might be in because of the fear of seeing them dead. A strong person would go no matter what in hopes that they're still there waiting to be rescued. But no, you're too afraid, too _weak." _

Karen spat those last words at her, and for the first time, Anna had nothing left to say. The anger bubbling up inside of her was about to overflow, and she was sure that if she opened her mouth flames would come out of them. Karen took her silence as an opportunity to continue pushing Anna over the edge.

"You're wondering how I know all of this? Well, I can still connect to you through your spikes because despite what Dr. Glass tells you, they aren't going away and they never will. I can see everything you see through your spikes, everything you feel, because you're not _strong _enough to fight back against me."

Out of everything she had said tonight, this was the most incorrect statement of all. Seconds after those words left her mouth, Anna found herself pouncing on top of Karen and putting up a real fight that would end this shit once and for all.

This was for her old friends back home who were killed during the invasion at school.

This was for her real family.

This was for her 2nd Mass. family that changed her life for the better.

This was for the real Karen trapped inside such a miserable life with no way out.

* * *

Ben had already entered camp and was making his way over to speak with his father. He planned on asking him if Anna could sleep in his tent with him and he wasn't sure what Tom was going to say. Obviously they weren't going to do anything crazy or take things too far, but it would still put him in an uncomfortable position.

"Hey dad, can I ask you something?" Ben asked Tom once he had reached him.

"Yeah, of course, Ben. What's do you need?"

"I don't know what you're going to say to this but I really want your permission to-"

Hal ran over to them frantically and stopped him in mid-sentence. Ben wasn't sure whether he was angry about his brother's rude interruption or happy that he had just saved his ass from asking a very awkward question.

"Dad, you need to hear this."

"Is it important or can it wait?"

"It definitely can't wait."

Tom looked at his middle son to make sure that this was alright. Ben was now interested in what Hal had to say, so he nodded and motioned for him to go ahead and continue.

"Okay, well, obviously I've had a bit to drink tonight, but I'm sober enough to think straight. And I'm certain I just saw a blonde girl walking along the outskirts of camp with a harness strapped onto her back. Sound familiar?"

Tom nodded, his mind of full alert now. "Karen's been lurking around our camp."

"And from what I could see, she was alone."

"Alone? Why would she ever go anywhere without a skitter or a Mech?"

Hal shrugged. "I don't know. But I do know that she was headed west."

"Towards the river?"

"Yeah, something must be there that she needs to take care of. I say we keep an eye out for now but leave it alone for the most p-"

"Anna there." Ben blurted out unexpectedly in the midst of the conversation, leaving his family confused.

"What?"

"Anna's by the river right now. Dad, what if Karen's-"

As if on cue, multiple gunshots fired in the distance, causing the whole camp to go into a panic and Ben's skin to go as pale as a ghost.

* * *

Weaver and all the sober fighters they could wrangle up followed Ben to the oh-so-familiar clearing in the forest to find nothing but a fresh pool of red seeping into the ground. Maggie walked over to it, sticking a finger in and observing it.

"It's definitely blood, and from what I can see, a lot of it."

Hal leaned over to his dad. "You don't think…" He whispered, trailing off because of his refusal to jump to such a morbid conclusion.

"No… no she couldn't be." Tom refused to believe that Anna could've been killed after everything she has lived through already.

"Alright, we're gonna set up a search party. Hal, Maggie, you two head down to the river. Pope and Anthony, stay here and keep watch. Tom, Ben, and I will check the forests surrounding us. Understood?" Weaver commanded, purposely stationing Ben with him so he could keep a close leash on him, and everyone scattered out to follow his orders.

Thankfully, it wasn't long until Maggie and Hal had found Anna on the ground at the edge of the river.

"Anna! Thank god you're alright, you scared the shit out of us!" Maggie exclaimed, relieved.

When she didn't say anything in return, they went to approach her, but as soon as they did, she turned around. Her appearance caused them to stop dead in their tracks.

Her face was starting to bruise and swell and her busted lip was stained with dried blood. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, and her hair was a complete mess. But what frightened them most was that her hands and clothes were covered in blood.

"Anna, whose blood is that?"

"I needed to help her. We have to help her." Anna stuttered out in a panicked tone, completely ignoring Maggie's question, and the spikes on her back lit up blue.

"What's going on with your spikes, why are they lighting up?" Hal asked, but as soon as he did, they stopped glowing.

Anna shook her head quickly. "I don't know, I really don't. But we have to help her." She repeated, obviously only interested in one thing.

"Who?"

To answer Hal's question, she stepped to the side to reveal an unconscious and quickly bleeding out Karen on the ground. Completely stunned, Hal's feet were glued to the floor, but Maggie kneeled down next to the harnessed girl to check for a pulse.

"She's still alive as of right now, but I don't know how much longer that's going to last."

"We need to take her back to the med bus. Dr. Glass could help her."

"Why do you want to help her, Anna? Don't you understand how much pain she's caused the 2nd Mass.? Look what she did to you! To Ben! We should just leave her here, or better yet, put her out of her misery right now." Maggie ranted as she pulled out her handgun and aimed it at Karen, but Anna stepped in front of her.

"NO! None of that was Karen, not the human Karen at least! Maggie, I need you need to trust me when I say that the real Karen's still trapped in there. I've asked for your trust before and I didn't let you down then, so I'm begging you to give me that trust one more time." Anna pleaded with her friend.

Maggie looked back-and-forth between a girl she loved dearly and a girl she truly hated, completely torn. Her mind was telling her to do one thing, but her heart told her to do the other.

"Please."

"Come on, Maggie, we have to trust her." Hal teamed up with Anna, making the choice feel much easier to her.

"Fine. But I'm not taking her back, nor will I be hanging around to see if she's okay because quite frankly I don't care. If it wasn't for Anna, she'd have a bullet through her head to join the one's Anna made in her chest." Maggie huffed, before walking back to inform Weaver on the finding of not just Anna, but Karen, too.

Hal finally freed himself from his frozen state and walked over to Karen, bending over so he could wrap his arms behind her back and knees to lift her up bridal style. Anna followed his lead through the woods and back to camp in silence.

Meanwhile, Anna's spikes still keep turning on-and-off. She had a few suspicions as to why, but right now, her focus was on Karen. Not the evil, alien-worshipping Karen who did all those things to harm the 2nd Mass. like Maggie had mentioned. But the Karen that was trapped inside the consciousness of that evil being. Anna prayed that Dr. Glass would be able to heal her of the gunshot wounds she had created from their fight and remove the harness so that maybe, just maybe, everyone could have the Karen everyone used to love back. And Anna hoped that she would be given the chance to grow to love her, too.


	12. 12- I'm Radioactive

"DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE ANNA IS?"

Ben had asked this question maybe 8 or 9 times in the past five minutes, but because of the chaos with Karen, his question was continuously left unanswered. He knew she was here somewhere camp but the fact that he couldn't find her _again _was adding a lot of weight to his already high temper. All he wanted to do was see his girlfriend after being approached and attacked by Karen and make sure she was okay.

After circling the med bus more than once, he looked farther into camp and found her sitting on a picnic table, her arms resting on her legs and her feet on the bench. She hadn't changed out of her blood stained pants but she was now only wearing a tank top that showed off her wrapped shoulder. She also had an ice pack in her hand, but it wasn't on her head like it should've been. It sat useless next to her defeated self. Ben approached her and joined her on top of the table.

"You should use that ice, you know. It'll help with your concussion." Ben finally spoke up after a few minutes of silence.

"I don't want to." She replied, making Ben laugh. Only she could be too stubborn to even help herself.

"Suit yourself, babe."

His use of the word 'babe' couldn't have come at a better time as she seemed to relax from her tense state. They sat in silence, Ben contemplating on how he was going to break the news to her about Karen.

"Karen didn't make it, did she?" She finally asked, well more like stated, as if she was able to read his mind. Who knows? They both have functioning spikes now so maybe she did read his mind.

"No, I'm sorry, Anna."

She hung her head down low in defeat, releasing a large sigh from her mouth.

"I had a feeling she wouldn't make it, but I couldn't help but hold on to the idea that maybe we could bring the real Karen back to us. That's what I get for being overly passionate, I guess."

"Overly passionate? You're not overly passionate, Anna. In fact, I don't think there's such a thing. Being passionate isn't bad at all, I even think it's one of the best parts about you. I love your passion." He intertwined his fingers in his and forced her look at him. "And I love you."

He knew that would get her. He knew the effect those words had on her because only he knew how hopelessly romantic she actually was on the inside once you get past her strong exterior. It was impossible for her to hold back her smile and the deep pigment creeping onto her cheeks. She tried to hide herself into his shoulder, and even though it made him let out a laugh, he still wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. In a life like this, there is no wrong time to hold the one you love.

"Ugh, see what you do to me. Even when I'm supposed to be sad, you make me look like a hormonal and love-struck 13-year-old girl." She groaned into the skin near his neck.

"Well, I mean, you _are _two of those things." He teased, obviously not referring to being a 13-year-old girl. This caused her to pull away from him and playfully smack him on the arm.

"Thanks, I appreciate your kind words to describe me."

"Anytime. Now come on, let's go back to the tents, it's getting late."

He jumped off the table and onto his feet then turned to Anna to take her hand and help her do the same. With their hands still connected, they walked back to camp with small smiles on their faces.

"Ben, can you come here for a second?" Tom asked as he stepped off the med bus and approached the couple.

"Uh, yeah sure, dad." He looked over at Anna, who nodded and stepped walked a few steps away to give the son and father some privacy. "What do you need?"

"Well, I don't know what it is with you kids, but you all seem to get yourself into some kind of trouble." Tom chuckled to himself.

"And…?"

"And because of that, I want Anna to sleep in your tent tonight. It would make me feel more comfortable if you guys kept an eye on each other."

Ben almost laughed. He had wanted Anna to sleep in his tent all along, but he was too nervous to ask. Now, here he is with his father who's basically commanding him to do it. It's funny how things seem to work out.

"Okay, sounds good." Ben tried to play it off coolly as if he wasn't freaking out on the inside. Tom didn't seem to be expecting his calm demeanor, though.

"Well, um, okay. Good night." He awkwardly said, giving him a hug before turning on his heels and walking in the other direction.

Ben returned to his girlfriend who had her arm crossed and had her attention on the starry sky. She noticed him approaching her and gave him a small smile.

"What'd he say?"

Without giving her an answer, he took her hand and pulled her towards the tents.

"Ben, what are you doing?" She laughed.

"You're sleeping in my tent tonight." He finally informed her when they stopped in front of his tent. She crossed her arms again and raised an eyebrow.

"Your dad told you that I have to sleep in your tent?" She asked him in disbelief. It's pretty unusual for a father to make such a request.

"Yep, so are you gonna go in or are you gonna give me that look all night?" He teased, causing her to step in front of him and duck down to walk through the opening. He followed closely behind her and zipped it up.

As Ben laid down in the cot with Anna closely cuddled up with him, he couldn't help but be in awe of everything that this girl had been through with him. He never expected to have anyone like him in his life. Sure, he had had girls befriend him throughout the duration of the war and he liked having them around as friends, but none of them had ever really made the earth move for him. He wasn't even looking to have a girl in his life, until Anna came along and not only made the earth move, but made it violently shake. Happiness in the shape of a small, beautiful brunette had snuck through a door he didn't know he left open.

And as Anna left no space between her and Ben with her head rested comfortably on his rapidly beating heart, she knew she had to forget all the horrible things that she had endured since the aliens invaded. She had to stop grieving over her family and enjoy the new one that had quickly opened their arms for her. She had to push aside her anger that she felt for her spikes and accept that they're now a part of who she is. She had to stop thinking about the "what ifs" with Karen and instead remember that she tried. She had to stop missing what the aliens stole from her and embrace what they had in return given her. They had given her this new life and a new way of looking at it. And in a world that never seemed to feel safe, she had never felt safer than she currently felt in Ben's arms.

* * *

**THE END**

_"What lies **behind us** and what lies **before us** are small matters compared to what lies **within us**." –Ralph Waldo Emerson _


End file.
